Pff...
A/N: That's it. I give up. I. GIVE. UP. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW CHAPTER? YOU WIN!
No, but seriously, I'm done fighting with this chapter. I had the opening part in my head back when I finished up the previous chapter, but the rest of it...I had NO idea what I wanted to happen. So I picked one of the many different ideas I have for this story and just went with it. It doesn't flow the way I'd like it to, and all my attempts to change that only confused me. So I'm throwing in the towel. This chapter has defeated me. It decided how it wanted to be written and refused to be changed. I have to just hope that to a third-party, it isn't as bad as I think it is.
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.
Warnings: OoCness, bad flow (again), some cursing and brief mentions of alcohol use. Also there's a double negative in this chapter that I put in there purposefully, but it still bothers me to see it. Oh, and there's a cliffhanger too.
Dedications: To all the readers who don't mind that this chapter developed a consciousness and wrote itself to be weird.
Chapter 7: Revealed
Waking up was not one of Dante's favorite activities; especially not when paired with getting only a handful of hours of actual sleep since the previous night was filled with fighting off an intruding demon, entertaining a child, and then spending most of the early morning fending off his new cuddle-prone bedmate; however, the day had decided to clear up and the blue sky was giving open permission to the sun to beam its irritatingly bright rays directly into his bedroom, effectively eliminating any further attempts to try and stay unconscious.
Dante finally gave in and rolled out of bed. He tiredly straightened his sleep-rumpled pants and started digging for a shirt he was sure was hidden somewhere in the piles of discarded clothing that littered his floor, when a low little growl sounded from behind him. Instinctively, Dante swiped Ebony up off the bedside table and turned to point at the source of the sound. He quickly lifted the barrel to point towards the ceiling when he realized it was just Nero. The half-devil was suddenly grateful that the kid was so exhausted – as demonstrated by his ability to sleep through the bright sun and Dante's tired grumbling – otherwise he would have been caught pointing a gun at Nero for a second time in as many days. He was such a great caretaker…
Sighing, he set Ebony back down and finally found a shirt. He finished dressing and then sat on the edge of the bed to pull back on his boots he must have kicked off in his sleep, curiously glancing over at the sleeping boy while he did. Nero was still sound asleep, curled up on his side and nearly buried beneath the blankets. Dante had to admit, when he wasn't awake and being annoying, glaring at him or worse, biting him, the kid was actually pretty cute. Just the way he looked when he slept was a perfect example. Thick, surprisingly dark eyelashes formed little crescent shaped shadows on pale, round cheeks as closed eyes fluttered, no doubt from a dream; probably a bad one considering the growl which, while a bit off-putting, was cute in and of itself. As if a growl that little could really intimidate anybody.
He dropped his now boot-covered foot back to the floor and stood, walking around the bed and pausing long enough to tuck the covers in loosely around the small body before ruffling messy white hair. Dante chose not to think about his own actions, or try to find any reason behind them. It was easier that way. But the contented purr that came from Nero was enough to stop Dante in his tracks to the door. It was going to be nearly impossible to keep his distance from the kid if he kept up that kind of crap.
Especially since that response was one more attribute working against the boy by labeling him as inhuman.
Dante quickly made himself leave the room before he could convince himself to get attached. He was already identifying himself with Nero. The two had similar tragedies in their past and eventually the kid would have to deal with his own devil blood, just like Dante had to even though he'd fought against doing so for most of his young life. Even if the demon currently after him was taken care of, there was a good chance Nero would continue to be hunted just like Dante was; which meant there was going to be no happily ever after for the kid. As much as it suited him, Dante admitted that it wasn't much of a life. Always being on alert for the next enemy that would try to tear out your throat while your guard was down wasn't exactly the definition of ideal and hardly a decent future for an orphan. And all of that was only if Nero didn't go dark-side and start hurting people when he got older.
He had gone downstairs with the intent to find a distraction, but all he found was more silence that allowed him to think; mostly about his own childhood. So Dante admitted defeat and went over to kick his jukebox to start it up and stopped by his bar to grab a bottle to take with him to his desk.
-o-o-o-
He wasn't entirely sure what had woken him. Maybe nothing had, but Nero was so used to being awoken by something going wrong that he automatically attributed an interrupted sleep with an attack or a horrible nightmare. Neither of those had been what brought him back to consciousness this time. For once, Nero found that he was awake simply because he was done sleeping. It was strange; he had always assumed he'd missed out on so much sleep that if he ever did manage to get the chance to do it without something ruining it, he would never wake up. Or at least sleep for a week straight. But other than his head being foggy and his eyes refusing to open completely at first, he felt well-rested; which was another oddity to him.
Nero made himself sit up and stared down blankly at the covers that pooled in his lap. It took him a few minutes and a lot of eye rubbing to finish waking up, but once he did, he noticed that he was alone in the bright, sunlit room. As he took in the mess, Nero decided that Dante's bedroom looked better in the dark. Did no one ever teach him to clean up his room when he was a kid?
Frowning, the boy crawled over to the edge of the bed and slid down carefully until his feet hit the floor. Having a decent amount of sleep without a nightmare that he could remember, Nero felt like he had a lot more energy; energy that he decided to use to go to the bathroom. He remembered it being downstairs and left Dante's room to head for the staircase. He was halfway down when he became aware that some kind of rock song was playing from the ground floor; he stopped with his foot hovering over the next step when Dante's voice suddenly broke through the moody guitar solo and greeted him.
"Well hello Sleeping Beauty. Nice to see you joining the rest of the world."
Nero looked over to see the older man sitting behind his desk, feet propped up and an almost empty glass bottle next to where said feet rested. He was wearing that wide grin that made Nero feel like he was about to be the victim of a practical joke. Wary, the boy finished coming down the stairs and kept Dante in his sights the entire time it took him to cross the room and head for the door behind where Dante sat to get to the bathroom. He lost his nerve and ran the last couple of steps, shutting the door quickly though on the other side he could hear the man laughing at him.
He finished his business and peeked back out from behind the door. Dante was no longer sitting in his chair, instead leaning against the edge of his desk and facing towards the bathroom, as if he'd been waiting for Nero to come back out. Embarrassed, the boy ducked out and stared down at his own feet as he walked back across the room. He'd hoped to make it to the couch, but of course he wasn't so lucky. Nero found himself forced to a stop as Dante stood up straight and reached out to grab the back of his shirt collar. He tensed but just barely stifled the urge he had to turn around and bite the restraining hand.
"Don't be all shy just because you had to take a piss, kid." Dante said with another chuckle as he tugged a reluctant Nero over.
"I'm not," Nero mumbled, picking at the bandages on his arm when he was released. He deemed them necessary, but sometimes his skin burned and itched so badly that he wished he could take them off; if only so he could scratch away the irritating prickly sensation.
Dante opened his mouth to let fly another comment when he noticed Nero fidgeting around with his gauze covered arm. For some reason, seeing it reminded him of all the mystery and burning curiosity as to what lay beneath and that was apparently enough to kill the decent buzz he'd had going. "Hey," he began, pointing at Nero's arm when the kid looked up at him. "Why don't you let me at least change those bandages? I bet I could wrap it better so you could actually use your arm, too." He offered. When Nero just continued to stare up at him, eyes narrowed and guarded, he added, "I promise I won't look."
"You can't not look at it when you have to wrap it up." Nero countered.
What a little smartass. "You're pretty sharp for a midget." Dante replied as he leaned back against his desk again and crossed his arms, watching in amusement as the kid's face flushed a light shade of red.
"I'm not a midget!" he said indignantly.
"Oh I'm sorry, do you prefer the term 'little person'?"
"No!"
"So you'd rather be called a midget?"
"N-no! Stop saying that!" Nero stuttered, that cute glare returning.
Dante grinned at the dark look. "What else should I call you, shortie?"
"At least I'm not a big, stupid jerk." The boy tried to argue.
"Wow, did that hurt your little head to come up with?" Dante taunted, enjoying watching the kid get worked up, aware he was deliberately antagonizing the kid for his own benefit; but though he did it all in good fun, he found himself feeling like a giant bastard when Nero's glare turned into a look that seemed less angry and more…disappointed? Betrayed? Sad? "Come on, kid, I'm just teasing you." He found himself explaining gently to try and make that hurt look go away.
The look disappeared as if it had never been and the kid actually smirked at him, at first hesitant and then more confidently. "Ha! You fell for it. Adults always fall for it."
Dante just barely kept himself from gaping at the smug child standing before him. He'd just been played? In that moment he had a feeling that no matter how hard he tried, there was just no way he was going to be able to keep himself from getting attached to the little punk.
"Oh, you'd better run for it." Dante warned after a length of stunned silence.
Nero frowned at that and took a small step back, asking cautiously, "Why?"
Dante decided to show the kid what a real smirk looked like and replied, "Because if I catch you, you're gonna pay for that."
It took Nero a minute after Dante started chasing him that it was meant to be playful and not an actual threat. After he realized it was a game, Nero found that it was kind of fun to run around the room avoiding capture. Especially since Dante didn't seem to care if he climbed over the furniture so long as he didn't break anything.
Though, because they were limited to the interior of the building, Nero found there weren't many places he could run and even less where he could hide. He made a quick decision to run up the stairs, but only made it up a few before Dante grabbed him by the shirt again and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. At first he was too stunned at finding himself hanging in the air to react, but once he realized he'd just been caught and lost the game, Nero started wiggling to get free.
"Ah ah," Dante said brightly as he carried the resisting boy towards the bathroom. "I said if I caught you, you'd pay for tricking me. And since I caught you, I decided that I get to change your arm bandages as payment."
"No!" Nero shouted, fighting harder as all playfulness drained out of him and he was swamped with fear and frustration. If Dante saw his arm…he didn't even want to think about what would happen. Especially since the older man was only just starting to be nice to him. Dante was supposed to be a man who hunted down and killed monsters, so what if he saw Nero's arm and decided he was a monster? What was Nero supposed to do then?
"Calm down, kid. It's not the end of the world." Dante frowned when Nero ignored him and kept flailing. He stopped just inside the bathroom and adjusted his grip to hold Nero upright in his arms, trying to calm the boy down. "Look, if you're worried I might think it looks ugly, let me tell you, I've seen some pretty wicked shit in my life. I doubt your arm could top my list."
Nero chose to respond by kicking him in the stomach, then biting into his shoulder; and hard, too.
"Ow, hey!" He snapped and yanked Nero back, sitting him on the narrow edge of the sink. "Knock it off, what did I say about no more biting? If you're going to act like a child, then I'll treat you like one. Either way, I'm still changing those bandages, so fight all you want. Just know it's not going to be worth it."
The boy hung his head and sulked silently, breathing elevated slightly as Dante stared at him and waited for any kind of reply. When he got none and Nero didn't try to hop down and run away, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and sighed. He waited another minute before reaching for the wrapped arm. Nero didn't yank it away or bite him again, instead letting the arm hang limp, so Dante figured he'd won this time. He went slow, looking over the bandages before deciding he was going to have to cut them off.
"Don't move." He warned quietly, trying not to sound like he was ordering the kid around. He wasn't really mad at Nero for resisting. The boy had a right to his own privacy, but Dante's curiosity about the wrapped arm had been mounting and he was starting to wonder if it maybe had something to do with the demon that had been following him around his whole life. If so, then he needed to see it to better understand what he was dealing with.
Dante dug around for a first aid kit he really only kept around for dire emergencies and when Lady dropped by with gaping wounds. When he found it, he flipped it open and pulled out a pair of small silver scissors. Nero looked up from staring at his knees, saw the scissors and flinched.
"Look, it's not going to hurt, kid. If anything it will feel better with fresh bandages, right?" he didn't know why he was still trying to reassure Nero when it was clear there was nothing he could say to make this whole ordeal easier on the kid. "Besides, this was going to come up sooner or later; best to just get it out of the way right now and not worry about it."
Nero grudgingly admitted that Dante had a point. With his luck, something would happen that would lead to his arm being revealed. He still wasn't happy about it, and he was still afraid of his arm and the incoming reaction he was going to have to deal with from his new guardian, but facing the rejection and disgust now, while they were still pretty much strangers, was better than facing it after they spent more time together and got to be friends. And Nero would like to think that he and Dante could become friends eventually; if he even got to stay here that long and Dante didn't get eaten by the monster.
He bit his bottom lip and turned his face away as Dante started to cut away the bandages, not wanting to see the mounting disgust or fear from someone he was starting to admire and respect after last night. When Dante didn't say anything or reel back in terror, Nero glanced cautiously over to his slowly revealed arm that was prickling more from being exposed to the air, thinking it might not be so bad anymore; instead, when the last of the old bandages fell away and he got a good look, his heart feel like it had crawled up into his throat and got stuck there. He hadn't looked at his arm since he snuck a peek and wrapped it back up a year or so ago. But his hopes that it might have magically become better, more normal, were shattered.
His arm had gotten worse.
